From slow travel to the rise of 'set-jetting', the travel trends of 2025 are reshaping what guests want from holiday rentals — and how smart hosts should respond.
Understanding why guests travel — and what they want when they get there — is one of the most valuable competitive advantages a holiday rental host can have. Properties that align with what travellers actually want in a given year consistently outperform those relying on assumptions formed years earlier.
2025 is an especially interesting year to study. Several major shifts in travel behaviour are now firmly established post-pandemic trends rather than temporary blips. Others are genuinely new. Together, they paint a picture of a guest who is more intentional, more values-driven, and more specific about what they're looking for than the package holiday tourist of a generation ago.
Here is a detailed look at the travel trends shaping holiday rental demand this year, and what each one means for how you position, market, and run your property.
One of the most durable travel shifts to emerge from the pandemic years is the growth of 'slow travel' — the preference for spending longer in fewer places rather than racing through multiple destinations in a single trip.
Airbnb's own data shows that average booking length has increased meaningfully since 2019 and has not reverted to pre-pandemic norms. Stays of 7–28 nights now represent a substantial and growing share of bookings, particularly among younger travellers and those who have flexibility in how they work.
For holiday rental hosts, slow travel is overwhelmingly positive:
Positioning tip: If your property suits week-plus stays, make this explicit in your listing. Mention proximity to grocery stores, laundry facilities, workspace quality, and local amenities that become relevant when someone is staying for two weeks rather than two nights.
'Set-jetting' — travelling to destinations featured in popular TV shows and films — is not new, but its scale and speed have accelerated dramatically in 2025. When a location appears in a Netflix series, searches for accommodation in that area can spike by hundreds of percent within days.
Recent examples with measurable impact on UK holiday rental markets:
Positioning tip: Monitor what's being filmed or featured in your region. When a new series drops that features your area, update your listing description with a reference to the connection — it captures the spike in searches when people type '[show name] filming location stay'.
Wellness tourism is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel market globally. The Global Wellness Institute values the wellness tourism market at over $1 trillion, with the UK representing one of the most active markets in Europe.
Guests seeking wellness-oriented stays are looking for properties that facilitate physical and mental restoration. This doesn't require a spa — it requires thoughtfulness:
Positioning tip: Audit your listing against wellness keywords. If you have a hot tub, lead with it. If you're near outstanding walks, describe them specifically. If your property is quiet at night, say so — it's a genuine differentiator.
Active travel — holidays built around outdoor activities, sports, or adventure experiences — is growing at roughly twice the rate of general leisure travel, according to adventure travel industry data. UK destinations particularly well-served by this trend include:
Guests booking activity-focused trips have specific practical needs that thoughtful hosts can address: bike storage, drying rooms, early check-in for early morning starts, outdoor showers for post-beach or post-run arrivals, kit storage, and detailed local knowledge about routes and conditions.
Positioning tip: Don't just mention that you're near 'great walking'. Describe the routes — distances, difficulty, what guests will see. This type of specific local knowledge signals expertise and converts the guest who is actively researching their activity holiday.
A meaningful and growing segment of travellers — particularly millennials and Gen Z — are making travel choices based on whether their trip leaves a destination better, not just the same. This 'regenerative tourism' philosophy goes beyond sustainability into active contribution.
Practically, this manifests as:
For UK holiday let owners, this trend rewards exactly the kind of authentic, locally embedded operation that self-catering has always represented. The key is making it visible and communicating it clearly in your listing.
Solo travel has grown from a niche activity to a mainstream travel category. Solo female travel in particular has increased sharply, and platforms now frequently feature 'solo travel' as an explicit search filter. Solo travellers represent a guest segment that was historically underserved by holiday rentals (minimum stays and pricing structures geared to groups) but is increasingly well-addressed.
Positioning tip: If you have a property that's genuinely comfortable for a solo traveller — good location, easy self-catering for one, safe and welcoming feel — consider creating a listing or marketing angle specifically targeting this segment. Single-night minimum stays and competitive solo pricing can capture a segment most holiday let hosts ignore.
Multi-generational travel — grandparents, parents, and children travelling together — is one of the highest-value booking segments for larger holiday let properties. Post-pandemic, families reconnected through group holidays, and this habit has persisted.
Large properties (4+ bedrooms) positioned for multi-generational groups need to communicate:
Not all 2025 travel is about remote escapes. Urban holiday rentals and properties in peri-urban settings (within 30–60 minutes of major cities) are experiencing strong demand from guests who want a break from their own city without a 4-hour drive.
These guests tend to book shorter stays, sometimes just one night, and prioritise proximity to restaurants, attractions, and transport links over rural tranquillity. For hosts in these locations, the challenge is competing with hotels on quality and reliability while winning on space, price, and 'home away from home' character.
The remote work revolution has permanently expanded the universe of people who can work from anywhere. In 2025, an estimated 35 million people globally work as digital nomads, and a much larger group have flexible enough arrangements to base themselves somewhere different for 1–4 weeks at a time.
This segment prioritises:
Cost-of-living pressure in the UK and Europe means that travellers in 2025 are more price-conscious than they were in the post-pandemic travel boom of 2022–2023. But this doesn't mean guests are simply seeking the cheapest option — it means they are being more deliberate about what they spend and more exacting about getting what they pay for.
A property priced at £400 per night that delivers exactly what it promises will outperform a property priced at £200 per night that disappoints. The value equation is about expectation management and consistency, not just rate level.
Staying aligned with evolving guest trends requires a property management approach that's both agile and organised. LetPilot gives holiday home hosts the tools to adapt quickly — from updating listing content across multiple platforms to automating guest communication that speaks directly to what modern travellers are looking for. Try LetPilot free at letpilot.co — no credit card required.